Firstly, the geographical position. Slovenia lies on the crossroads of two Pan European corridors: the fifth, connecting the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe, and the tenth, linking Central and Southeastern Europe.

Port of Koper is also one of the closest access points to the sea for the landlocked nations of the ex-Hapsburg Empire: Austria, Hungary, Czechia, and Slovakia. Not surprisingly, the port of Koper has developed rapidly since the independence of Slovenia and evolved into one of the largest ports in the northern Adriatic. Its market niche: industrial products shipped in containers and cars.

Koper is the largest container port in the region with a throughput reaching almost 1 million TEU in 2021. With 44,000 parking lots, Koper has one of the most modern car terminals in the Mediterranean, from which cars are shipped in both directions – from Europe overseas and from Asia to Europe. The throughput in 2021 reached 656,000 cars.

The port of Koper managed to grow even during the pandemic. A second rail line connecting Koper with the mainland promises to further improve the port’s attractiveness: its construction began in 2021. Apart from that, the port operator plans to further modernize the facilities with 5G-supported data systems. Above all, the operator is trying to make the port’s operations more sustainable. The construction of a 3 MW powerplant on the roof of one of the warehouses started this year – the photovoltaic systems should provide close to one-third of the port’s electricity by the end of the decade. Yet when it comes to sustainability, Koper’s main attraction lies in its position: the shortest transport routes from sea to destinations in Central Europe mean considerable savings in fuel.

The country’s second key logistics hub is Ljubljana’s Brnik airport. Since 2015 the port has been run by Fraport Slovenija, a company owned by the Frankfurt airport operator. In seven years Fraport has invested over 60 million euros into the development and modernization of the airport’s infrastructure. Another 78 million euros were invested in the infrastructure by large international logistics companies and Brnik has become one of the most important cargo airports in the region.

The Austrian-based international logistics company Cargo Partner built a modern logistics center focusing on integrated solutions, which is worth 28 million euros, in 2019. This year, the company already began expansion with 14,000 square meters of new warehouses, worth 12 million euros. The state-of-the-art facilities will also include a drone runway.

The world’s third largest player in pharmaceutical logistics Kuehne + Nagel invested 50 million euros in a pharma warehouse in 2018: it is one of the three largest logistic hubs used by Novartis in the world, making Brnik a key hub for drugs and other pharmaceutical products in Central and Eastern Europe. Last year Fraport also added a new cold store for pharmaceuticals to its facilities. DB Schenker’s new IT-supported terminal opened this year on the outskirts of Ljubljana. With its top-notch security systems, it is suitable for high-value goods – the other Schenker location in Ljubljana became designated for pharmaceuticals.